The Scottish Institutional Ecology of Health and Clinical/Medical Research and Key Issues for Scottish Independence

In this paper, we provide a preliminary analysis of the institutional ecology of the Scottish health system and key clinical and medical research assets built up since devolution, and which we consider crucial to any informed discussion about the future of Scotland. The paper is driven by two questions. First, what does a fully devolved healthcare system and partially devolved medical and clinical research system mean in practice? Second, what do different professionals and key stakeholders (academic researchers, NHS directors, research funders and commercial organisations) see as the potential benefits of full independence or further devolution, and what do they feel may be lost for clinical and medical research, society, economy and public health?